jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

Blaster Master Zero Set To Launch In 2017

Blaster Master is an NES classic that many have fond memories of. What's not to love in a game where you can not only drive a tank but get out and explore on foot? The gameplay was great and upgrading the tank and your character was fun and as you progressed you felt like a badass. In retrospect my only minor gripe with Blaster Master is the same one I had with many NES games in that there was no save feature on the game cart. Developer Inti Creates and Sunsoft are partnering up to launch the all new Blaster Master Zero that will come out exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS and I hope later the Switch.

"Using the original Blaster Master game as a base, we are setting out to create a fully 8-bit experience in a way that both hearkens back to the golden age of the NES and uses the current generation hardware to optimize and power up the game for the players of today. This of course includes new areas and bosses, and new gameplay elements such as extra sub-weapons, improved gameplay when battling outside of your SOPHIA 3rd tank, a more robust scenario, refined and expanded exploration mechanics, and more."

Blaster Master Zero looks like an extension of the original game but does add new features such as in level gun switching and improved weapons. But at it's core it looks like if you loved the original game and always wanted more this is something you need to check out.

http://inticreates.com/blaster-master-zero-3ds/

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 11/10/2016 at 05:29pm

Shut up and take my money!

Nicholas_Biondi wrote on 11/11/2016 at 03:52am

Travis Admin wrote on 11/11/2016 at 01:01pm

I legitimately didn't realize that Sunsoft was still around!

I feel great shame that I've never played this game. I guess I should?

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/11/2016 at 04:44pm

I never played the game, but I remember reading a Blaster Master book as a child. I don't remember anything, other than it being AWESOME.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/11/2016 at 04:56pm

Turns out it was part of a series of novelizations of video games known as Worlds of Power
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worlds_of_Power

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/12/2016 at 02:16am

I don't remember those books. But I had this one: http://www.mariowiki.com/Leaping_Lizards

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/12/2016 at 02:16am

I think I still might have it in a box somewhere.

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FEZ Soundtrack Is One Of The Best "Centering" Game Scores Around

So it's post election time in the United States and I think we can all agree that it's been a very rough season. Many years ago I started listening to more Classical music during another particularlly charged election year because I was drawn to music that had less of an agenda by not featuring words. Which is why I think I enjoy listening to amazing video game scores. Not only is the music great but it's also a more personal experience beacuse the meaning isn't often as obvious.

FEZ is a very special Indie platformer that I consider to be one of the games that kicked off the Indie revolution. FEZ packs a bunch of charm and has a special kind of magic to it as you make your way collecting Tetrominoes. One big part of the whole experience is the score by Disasterpiece that is a nearly perfect collection of 26 tracks that weave the game together. Initially FEZ launched on the XBox 360 but I first played it after it came to PC. I picked up the score in a later Humble Bundle that had it as part of a download and it's been in constaint rotation on my iPhone and in nearly every playlist of albums i'm listening to. This might seem a bit strange but if I need to center myself or need to focus on something I put on the FEZ score. During my first Hearthstone fireside brawl I played the FEZ score during my matches to help as it contains some really moving pieces like the track Compass that seems more a series of notes meant to have you exist in the moment than draw you to any particular goal. I find that lack of agenda to be one of the best places to play Hearthstone from as its often easier to come to a good series of plays naturally than overthink something.

As we come out of this particularly hard election season I encourage you to find things that can bring you better to a centered place and for me one thing thing that helps is listening to the soundtrack to FEZ. But you know if blasting demons in Doom helps that's fine too. Hit me up in the comments love to hear what people are into.

You can listen to the whole FEZ score in it's entirely on Spotify for free by hitting the link below:

https://play.spotify.com/user/1263129891/playlist/2ERpj9ihXLG43UoBjxeTdM

Watch All The Talks From Steam Developer Days 2016

I was able to attend this years Steam Developer Days and had a great time. One big draw of the conference was the talks and Valve has dropped them all on their YouTube page. I linked to one really great talk above by Mike Ambinder on the Psychology of Games I recommend you watch. There are 25 talks available from this years Dev Days so if you are in need of some awesome game talks and have some time, hit the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLckFgM6dUP2ihiMeKHoyIdHvhRSyqwQsp

If you want to read my thoughts on my two days at Steam Developer Days hit the links below.

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3127/steam-developer-days-day-1-vr-is-all-around-you
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3132/steam-developer-days-day-ii-a-wrap-up-to-a-great-conference

Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Is The Next Hearthstone Expansion

There was a lot of news out of this years BlizzCon and the bit that was most interesting to me was next Hearthstone expansion Mean Streets of Gagetzan. As with the last expansion Whispers of the Old Gods, Gadgetzan is a 132 card expansion that looks to contain some really fun elements that should mix up the current meta.

"All in the Family: Each class belongs to one of the city's three factions. Your class cards and neutral minions all fall into that faction's theme. The affiliations are:

Grimy Goons: Hunter, Paladin, Warrior
Kabal: Mage, Priest, Warlock
Jade Lotus: Druid, Rogue, Shaman

Faction Specials: Aside from class affiliations, the three factions each have their own unique twist.

Multi-Class Cards: Some neutral minions are only available to members of their faction; for example, a Grimestreet Informant (a member of the Grimy Goons) can only be in Hunter, Paladin, or Warrior decks."

I like that this expansion allows you many more uses for the cards in that certain cards can be used by multiple classes. From the cards they've revealed so far the expansion looks to make Priest a much more viable class. Some say Priest is headed for tier 1 status and from the cards they've revealed, that's a solid possibility. So far Blizzard hasn't dropped a release date yet but if they are keeping with the two expansions and an adventure release clip it should be out this month. Currently I have over 6k gold so on Gadgetzan launch I should be able to open over 60 packs! Whereas I won't be able to get every card I will get many of them and opening that many packs is always a lot of fun.

If you are looking to get back in to Hearthstone I recommend you check it out as Blizzard recently added quests that make it much easier to get gold. Many quests are now things like "Play 10 pirates" or "Play 20 battlecry minions" making the game much easier to run through your dailies. You might need to re-roll your quests if you have a full roster of old "Win X Games" quests but if you stepped away because Hearthstone was too hard a grind, it might be more accessible to you now.

Someone on Reddit is updating the link below with all the new Gadgetzan cards so head over there if you are curious what will be coming in the expansion.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/5b5mlg/the_mean_prerelease_reveal_chart_all_currently/

New World Record Speedrun For Ocarina of Time Set By skater82297 at 17:24!

Ocarina of Time is a classic Nintendo 64 game that is considered by some to be the best game of all time. Since Ocarina is such a popular game that over time it has become on of the most competitive games for speedrunning. I've tried to cover each new world record set for Ocarina and today the record has been beaten yet again by skater82297 at 17:24. A new time skip was found that involves collecting a bottle in the Deku tree that skips you directly to Gannons Castle. This was a fun run to watch and it's great to see people keep making Ocarina one of the best games to watch.

What Is The Pioneer Laser Active?

MetalJesusRocks is one of my favorite retro YouTubers because his videos contain stuff I don't see anywhere else like this video for the Pioneer LaserActive. The LaserActive was a LaserDisc player and console released back in the 90's that could play it's own games as well as Karaoke, Sega Genesis games and 3D games. I remember seeing this in the stores and thought it was awesome but it was crazy expensive for the 90's and I knew no one that actually owned it. As i've been collecting more old films on VHS I am getting closer to pulling the trigger on a LaserDisc player and if I ever found one of these would snap it up in a second if the price was right. That said, it's huge because it has to hold LaserDiscs but... you now... that just means it's retro awesome right?

Get One of the Greatest "Terminator Sequels" Far Cry Blood Dragon Free on UPlay November 9th!

Ubisoft has celebrated it's 30th year anniversary giving away some gaming classics such as Beyond Good and Evil, Rayman Origins, Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia Sands of Time. They are rounding out the celebration with a final set of two games and Novembers game is the 80's retro themed shooter Far Cry Blood Dragon. If you haven't played this you absolutely should head over to the link below on November 9th and redeem it on your UPlay account. Blood Dragon is a standalone game built on the Far Cry 3 engine that was written like a spiritual sequel to old 80's classics such as Terminator, Tron and Predator. It's not a very long game and can be completed in well under 10 hours and doesn't require the latest and greatest PC hardware to run.

If the second to last giveaway is a FarCry game I am wondering if the final giveaway will be Assassins Creed?

https://twitter.com/UbisoftClub/status/793830111552294913
https://club.ubisoft.com/en-US/ubi30

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/03/2016 at 04:17am

I think I may need a reminder for when the game is available. I might check it out. I haven't played any Far Cry games, although I have been tempted to check out Far Cry Primal.

*This comment was edited because after posting it, I realized you posted when the game will be available.*

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/03/2016 at 04:27am

If you have an iPhone you can hit it and ask Siri to remind you to sign up to get Far Cry 3 on November 9th. I do it all the time and it reminds me to take out the trash when I get home and do things at certain times. It's way better than a list sometimes

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/03/2016 at 04:51am

I have a dumb phone, never owned a smart phone, nor an iPhone. However, I could set it up on the calendar I use on my phone for appointments and such.

I have noticed you playing a Far Cry game and thought about asking you about it. I don't recall which it was, could have been FC3. FC Primal does look interesting.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/03/2016 at 04:53am

This year I finally finished up Far Cry 3(check my posts on it) and then started up Blood Dragon and played it till about half way then I stopped for some reason. I think maybe one reason is I just finished Far Cry 3 and I was kind of done with that kind of game at that time even though I much preferred Blood Dragon's unique style.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/03/2016 at 04:54am

Sorry, LAST YEAR I finished Far Cry 3. Jeez, 2016 is nearly over.... seems like it just started.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/10/2016 at 04:18am

I remembered! Getting it downloaded now.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/15/2016 at 11:23pm

Holy cow! Massive savings on the Far Cry games in the Ubisoft store! They're all either 50% or 75% off! FC Primal is $30, FC4 is $20, FC3 is $5, FC and FC2 are $2.50 each. Sale ends on 11/20.

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Dive Deeper Into The Grey Plastic 8-Bit Wonderland of the NES Classic Featuring Incredibly Small Controller Cords!

In this episode of Nintendo's new online web show the Nintendo Minute they show off the upcoming NES Classic and quite a few games that come with it. There are a few details confirmed here such as the 3 foot long controllers and the incredible NES Classic interface in action. Not thrilled with the cord length and i'm honestly curious what the thinking was here? Do they expect us to stretch out the HDMI cable to make room from the TV to the couch? I hope someone makes some extension cables or something because that would make using the system in the living room much easier. I imagine if you were plugging the NES classic in to your monitor then the small cords wouldn't matter as much but this system is made for the living room.

Regardless of "NES Cordgate" I'm picking one up because it's pretty incredible and I saw an unboxing today that made things even more compelling. Not only does the NES Classic come in a box that pays homage to the original but it also comes with a poster that looks like it stepped right out of the 80's. If you want to watch the unboxing hit the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tge1sHXHqps

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/03/2016 at 04:00am

Interesting. I think I'd like to see some other games played on it (like SMB3). The controller cable length does stink. The Genesis that I got years ago, which looks similar in size, uses wireless controllers. I wonder why Nintendo didn't do that for this (granted we're talking about two different companies). My guess is that they decided to keep the cord for nostalgia, which is pretty much what this new mini-NES is all about. I have a small area set up. My TV is sitting on top of a dresser which is to the right of my PC. Then I have two "computer" chairs, one in front of my PC and one (belonging to my son) in front of the TV. So, I can imagine hooking it up and playing it easily enough. I'm glad that it has an HDMI cable. I'm also curious as to whether or not the power cable is actually some form of USB, which I think would be great.

I'm still not sure about getting this, I think I may wait and see. Who knows what Santa might bring me for being a good boy this year! LOL

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/03/2016 at 04:26am

> The Genesis that I got years ago, which looks similar in size, uses wireless controllers. I wonder why Nintendo didn't do that for this (granted we're talking about two different companies).

Keep costs low. This is a $60 system "cutting the cord length" shaves off a few pennies and allows the packaging to be small.

> My guess is that they decided to keep the cord for nostalgia, which is pretty much what this new mini-NES is all about.

You know that is true. Whereas the United States NES had way longer cords, the Japanese Famicom had SUPER short cords. This may well be a throw back to that. So, yeah they do save some money here but maybe it's an to the original Famicom controller length?

> I'm also curious as to whether or not the power cable is actually some form of USB, which I think would be great.

It is. The unboxing video shows it to be micro or mini USB powered.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/03/2016 at 04:59am

> Keep costs low. This is a $60 system "cutting the cord length" shaves off a few pennies and allows the packaging to be small.

That makes sense, although I'm sure this Genesis I bought years ago cost about that much, maybe even less, at my local grocery store (Kroger).

>You know that is true. Whereas the United States NES had way longer cords, the Japanese Famicom had SUPER short cords. >This may well be a throw back to that. So, yeah they do save some money here but maybe it's an to the original Famicom >controller length?

I remember the super long NES controller cables, those were sweet! I never knew much about the Famicom, but from what I can recall seeing, I think you're right and perhaps this small cable was a nostalgic nod to that.

>It is. The unboxing video shows it to be micro or mini USB powered.

That's what it looks like, which makes powering it so much easier. I can think of a few devices I have (Kindle, phone, etc.) that use that kind of power. Plus, if you can plug it into a USB port on your PC and then plug in the HDMI cable (if you have a free input port), you could totally play it on your PC, which would be sweet! I know my GTX 690 had extra HDMI slots, but I believe the 980Ti only has one.

Anyway, here's hoping that they release a new mini-SNES and maybe a mini-N64!!! Shall we go even further with a mini-Gamecube? Maybe all of that is just wishful thinking, but we shall see!

Speaking of the Gamecube, I think it's interesting that this new mini-NES is about the size of a Wavebird controller (I have one and love it).

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 11/03/2016 at 05:06am

Still not buying it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/03/2016 at 05:18am

> Still not buying it.

Hahahaha. Stay strong Will. Stay strong!

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2016 at 01:09pm

And it comes with an HDMI cable. I swear nothing ever comes with HDMI cables. You get home with your new device and fuuuuuuuuuuuu no HDMI cable.

@greg the guy who did the unboxing also did a video of gameplay. Here's Mario 3: https://youtu.be/UOZ38n1QZ3Y?t=127

And those hdmi ports on your video card don't work as input I wouldn't imagine.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/03/2016 at 02:11pm

Thanks for the link, Travis. SMB3 looks pretty much how I remember it, with the graphically oddity on the left and right side of the screen. I wonder if that would change if it was played with the Pixel Perfect filter. I skipped through the video and SMB seems to look better, so I think he's still using the Pixel Perfect filter while playing it. If that's right, then that's cool that you can switch between that classic look and something cleaner.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 11/03/2016 at 07:37pm

I just watched the gameplay video. Awesome watching those old games in action. I hope this does well. I would have bought one of these if they made it so you can add more games. I will just keeping powering on my original NES and playing games on that. :)

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2016 at 08:14pm

Yeah Will, I'm kinda at that point. I'm drooling over this but I have probably 3/4 of the games on my shelf right now so it's not $60 worth. If I get it as a gift I'll love it!

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2016 at 08:23pm

More news: yeah the controller situation is bad. If you have the console on the floor at your feet, it is stretched to the max when you're sitting in a chair. The only workable situation I can think of is sitting on the floor as far back as your HDMI cable will allow. Luckily you can get extensions for it.

Also, you can use the Wii Classic Controller with it and the Home button will let you change games so you don't have to hit the reset button.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2016 at 08:27pm

Oh this is where that info comes from: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/11/hands-on-nes-classic-edition-puts-old-games-in-a-very-small-package/

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/03/2016 at 08:52pm

I thought that controller port looked familiar. I do have the Wii Classic Controller.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/04/2016 at 03:10am

> Luckily you can get extensions for it.

Do you know who sells them? I haven't seen any yet.

> but I have probably 3/4 of the games on my shelf right now so it's not $60 worth. If I get it as a gift I'll love it!

I don't have many of these games. The popular ones I do but Balloon Fight and others I don't have. It's a savings for me just to round out my NES collection.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/05/2016 at 03:23am

I thought I saw one on Amazon yesterday but now I can't find it. I may have seen it somewhere else.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/05/2016 at 06:04am

I found an article about this. The more I read and see about it, the more I feel like getting it. I just wish we could get more games for it. Ultimately, I wish we could get the entire NES library, but that's pretty much a pipe dream (Mario puns anyone?). Still, I'm hoping Nintendo gives this same treatment to the other classic consoles that we know and love so much. Anyway, check out a small review:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nes-classic-edition-review/1100-6445134/

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/05/2016 at 06:06am

Oh and Travis, I found an Amazon link for it, but it's not available yet:
https://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Entertainment-System-NES-Classic/dp/B01IFJBQ1E/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1478325922&sr=1-2&keywords=nes+classic+edition

Travis Admin wrote on 11/05/2016 at 02:18pm

I was talking about the extension cord.

Looks like there are a few up now. I wonder what was going on last night: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=nes+classic+extension

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/05/2016 at 03:05pm

Thanks Travis. I'll be getting those!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/10/2016 at 06:14am

If you want the new NES, but don't want to deal with that short controller cable, there's a solution (wireless):
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nes-classic-edition-gets-wireless-controller/1100-6445216/

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/10/2016 at 06:33am

That's a nice option. Thanks Greg!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/10/2016 at 07:10am

So, I told one of "Santa's" messengers that one thing I kind of want for Christmas is a NES Classic Edition that costs $60. However, Amazon is showing it for no less than $200. That's probably because the supply sucks. I watched a video about it that said stores only got a few of them. One guy tried to get it from GameStop, but they said they were sold out before the store even opened, the store's employees bought them. He said Wal-Mart only had about that many as well. You can check out the short video below.

https://youtu.be/8K0is0CkHFQ

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/10/2016 at 03:04pm

I call Target every morning but yesterday they said they got one in stock and someone was there at 5am for it. I don't think I'll have one under my tree this year.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/10/2016 at 03:11pm

Yeah they really needed more supply. I keep hearing the "well, you should have pre-ordered it" argument but that's just not true. It's new (kinda) hardware that could absolutely suck, pre-ordering is dangerous.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/10/2016 at 03:54pm

I'm not sure where you could pre-order it from? GameStop or something? Amazon certainly didn't allow that.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/10/2016 at 04:00pm

Honestly I didn't look into the option of pre-ordering so I don't know. If you couldn't pre-order it, that makes the argument even worse! :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/10/2016 at 05:06pm

Yeah, I don't think you could have or I would.

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Portland Retro Game Expo 2016 - VHS, a Broken NES & The Retron 3

Portland Retro Game Expo is a mecca for retro game lovers. This year we had a booth a the convention and ran four NES speedrun and score tournaments. Packie was the overall tournament master by winning two of our contests starting with his blistering 2 minute 04 second Super Mario Brothers 1-4 speedrun. Packie then ended the convention by absolutely demolishing our Dr. Mario score tournament with a score of 334,400! His Dr Mario ability was incredible and i've never really seen anything like his setup and execution of combos. Ben won Papers, Please on Steam for his 1 minute 26 second speedrun of Super Mario Brothers 3 to the first Toad House. Philly won our RC Pro AM score tournament with a incredible final score of 18,658! I want to thank everyone that took part in our contests as each was unique to watch and some were won on the edge of a knife, or in this case a controller.

As Adam and I were preparing for our booth this year we identified early on that we wanted to run a few NES tournaments and I realized that the best way to do that was to get an old CRT TV. After looking at some options I decided that getting a TV/VCR combo seemed like the coolest option as I haven't owned a VCR in well more than a decade. As I scoured the local Goodwill and other second hand stores I also noticed how cheap VHS films were and that it might be fun to start a small collection. Between each tournament we played a couple VHS films such as Tron and Back to the Future and people seemed to really like that. Besides showing a few films between our tournaments I also had a few movies out on the table I was showing and more than a couple times people seemed interested in buying them. I didn't know there was even a small market for VHS films but I suppose a retro game convention would be the place to pick them up if you wanted to.

After our first NES tournament my childhood NES we were running the tournaments on stopped working. I was really upset as this NES had been with me since I got it for Christmas from my Grandparents back in the early 90's. Having your NES break at a retro game convention is pretty fortunate but I wasn't ready to pull the trigger on getting a new one quite yet but we had to continue the tournaments. In the end I decided on picking up a Retron 3 and that worked out really well. The Retron 3 not only plays NES games but it also accepts SNES and Genesis carts. We continued our NES tournaments without a hitch and I was surprised at how incredible the Retron worked with my existing NES games and controllers. After the convention was over I set it up with the TV in my office and played some of the games I picked up at the convention such as Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam on Genesis. Apparently Sega Genesis games are much cheaper than the SNES counterparts because collectors seem to prefer the Super Nintendo. Whereas I think the Super Nintendo does indeed have better colors and sound the Genesis ports of games are extremely solid and I have been having a blast playing Mortal Kombat on it. So much so that I plan on doing a formal review in the upcoming weeks on what I think of the game and my thoughts on the Genesis port.

I want to thank everyone that checked out the booth at this years Portland Retro Game Expo and hopefully we will be able to do it next year. We are already planning on attending and have some ideas on how to make it better but if you have ideas, i'd love to hear them.

If you are interested in seeing more of the convention you can hit the link on some pictures I took in an imgur album below:

http://imgur.com/a/YwFQk

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/02/2016 at 06:01am

That sounds awesome! Well, except that your NES failed you. I hope it's not dead. Nintendo used to have places you could take it for repairs, up until a few (or more) years ago that is. I never heard of the Retron 3, but it sounds amazing! I have an extremely small library of NES and SNES carts. I know exactly where my NES is (I think I got it around 13 years ago, maybe more), but I have no idea what happened to the SNES I had.

This event sounds and even looks totally awesome. I can imagine majorly geeking out there!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/02/2016 at 03:04pm

This was such a great experience. I've gone to the expo for the past few years as just an attendee, but when Jon asked if I could help out at the booth, I jumped at the chance.

This is such a great convention as there's so much to do and everyone is incredibly friendly. People really do come from all over the country, so everyone had an interesting perspective.

The game competitions we ran blew me away. The combos Packers was pulling out on Dr. Mario... I honestly thought he was messing up, until he started nailing multiple-stage combos (he'd clear 8-10 viruses at a time... I can't adequately describe how much it blew my mind). The speed running competitions we're amazing as well. The precision some players had was astounding. I think I learned a thing or two, but would need to practice forever to even get close to the fastest times.

I got to talk to people about Cheerful Ghost, but I wish I had talked more about the site. The competitions took up the majority of Jon's and my attention lol. Next year I hope to be able to talk CG up more.

All around it was a great couple days. Thank you Jon for letting me be a part of it! I already can't wait for next year!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 11/02/2016 at 06:23pm

How does the retron 3 feel with inserting and pulling out carts? I read some comments on the 5 that it felt like it was going to break them.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/02/2016 at 08:26pm

Will: Yep, it really does clamp on to them hard. It didn't seem to harm them but I wonder how that would work longer term?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 11/02/2016 at 09:31pm

I think it would be fun to try to build something similar to a retron... Maybe with a raspberry pi? Have an emulator that runs on the pi, then have a device of sorts that takes the carts, plus some retro controller to usb functionality.

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Twitch Prime Continues It's Rewards With 2 Free Games & Twitch Game Launcher

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*oUy_JxQ9hMl1mGCi4WYeFg.jpeg

Amazon recently debuted it's new Twitch Prime service that allowed existing and new Amazon Prime users a free Twitch subscription and some fun Hearthstone DLC. Since I already had Amazon Prime and play Hearthstone signing up for the free stuff made sense. Amazon mentioned that there would be monthly benefits to Twitch Prime and this month they are releasing some free DLC for Watch Dogs 2 and giving away Punch Club and This War Of Mine: Anniversary Edition. If Amazon keeps dropping free games and premium DLC every month it really makes the prospect of Twitch Prime a much sweeter deal. With that the free games don't seem to be Steam codes like you might expect. Apparently Twitch is creating an all new Twitch game launcher to join the already full mass of independent game store launchers such as Steam, Origin, UPlay, GOG, Bethesda.net, Battle.net, the Epic Launcher and the new Facebook Gameroom.

I like the idea of monthly rewards for Twitch Prime but I wonder about adding yet another game launcher to our PC's?

https://blog.twitch.tv/new-loot-from-twitch-prime-this-fall-44740843978#.96ghc2n9b
https://www.facebook.com/gameroom/

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/02/2016 at 05:54am

I found out about the newest Prime free stuff in what seems quite a while ago. None of it interests me, though, so I don't really have any intention of grabbing any of it. Let me know what you think of it if you grab any of it.

As for the launcher, yeah that kind of sucks. Why are there so many game launchers? Ugh!

I have created a Twitch account because of Twitch Prime. I subscribed to two of my favorite YouTubers there and added Ark to my interests. Other than grabbing the Hearthstone stuff, I haven't done anything else with it. I haven't even watched any Twitch videos.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/02/2016 at 06:04am

I'd recommend trying out Pumch Club as it's a really interesting fighting sim.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/02/2016 at 06:18am

I might figure this out before you reply, but where do I download the launcher from?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/02/2016 at 06:26am

Ok, I think it's like last time. I look at my channel and on the left is a "FREE WITH PRIME" list. I don't see the new stuff there now, so it might not yet be available. I imagine when it is there it will lead you to download the launcher. That's just an assumption (and hope) though.

Oh and can we get our Twitch usernames on our CheerfulGhost profiles just like we have Steam, PSN, etc.?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/02/2016 at 02:19pm

Yeah good call, I'll add that to our profiles.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/02/2016 at 03:08pm

Just a random thought about Twitch. I've been watching it lately really late overnight (I am working in a Red Cross disaster shelter in North Carolina and have the 8pm to 8am shift, so I have a lot of free time). I've not found a ton of actual games that I enjoy watching, but some streamers do other things, like karaoke (sometimes they're pretty bad singers, which just makes it more fun lol). I enjoy the players who interact with the viewers and have found it can be a lot of fun :)

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/02/2016 at 09:56pm

@Jon heck for that matter, why not add Bethesda.Net and Origin on there, too? LOL

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/03/2016 at 02:56am

Oh, I thought Twitch would have a public profile available for users, apparently it doesn't.

Currently we only show other public profile links on someones Cheerful Ghost profile page. For instance, my StarCraft II and Diablo III pages are public, so we link to them.

Our Battle.net tags and stuff aren't public so we don't link them up on the profile page. We need to figure out a good way to share this private account stuff with people you want but so far we haven't built anything for that.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/03/2016 at 03:32am

Ah, I see. Well really we don't need to link everything. There's no need to make things more difficult for CheerfulGhost. What we can't or don't link can be asked for or advertised, such as my name on pretty much everything is GregoPeck. :)

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/10/2016 at 04:11am

I see the Watch Dogs 2 content, but none of the others.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/10/2016 at 04:18am

I found the Twitch Launcher download link here:
https://help.twitch.tv/customer/portal/articles/2574721-twitch-prime-game-code-redemption-and-installation

Which points to this direct link:
https://launcher.twitch.tv/TwitchLauncherInstaller.exe

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/10/2016 at 04:40am

Yeah, I don't see the other stuff either. Maybe you need to install the launcher to get the games?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/10/2016 at 05:07am

I did that and it said "no games." So maybe the other stuff will come later, I guess.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/10/2016 at 05:56am

Yeah it might be an eventual rollout for the whole month?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/19/2016 at 02:01am

This War of Mine is now available!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/24/2016 at 05:48am

Punch Club is now available!

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